Improvement in railway-car brakes



I 2Sheets--Sheet1. G. H. MERRIAM.

Railroad Car Brakes.

N0. 123,718. Patented Feb. 13, 1872.,

W a ll LITI lnaezztor. i. m M

2 Sheets- -Sheet2.

G. H. MERRIAM.

Railroad Car Brakes. No. 123,7i8 Patented Feb.13,1872.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. MERRIAM, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFHIS RIGHT TOABNER O. SHAW, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RA ILWAY CAR BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,718, dated February13, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. MERRIAM,

of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, haveinvented an Improved Gar-Brake; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a-p1an,showing the under side of a car with the improvedbrake. Fig. 2 is side elevation, and Figs. 3 and 4 are end elevations,one representing-the brake as operated by a screw-rod and the other asoperated by a lever.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawing indicate thesame parts.

i The object of this invention is to improve the means for operatingrailroad-car brakes; and to this end the invention consists, first, in asimple and practical device for drawing the brakes against the wheels ofa single truck; secondly, in an improved means for connecting togetherthebrakes belonging to the different trucks on the same car; andthirdly, in an improved device for connecting the brakes attached to thedifi'erent cars so that a person stationed on any car can apply all thebrakes throughout the train, or they can be applied bythe engineer,either by steam or hand power.

In the drawing, A A are the wheels; B B, the brake-beams; b b, thebrake-heads O, the body of the car and D D, the trucks. All these partsmay, if preferred, be constructed in the old way, or they may bemodified to adapt them to any improvements upon the old style ofconstruction. The brakes, it will be observed, are so arranged that eachpair, applied to a single truck, incloses the wheels of the truckbetween them, so that as the brakes are drawn together they act upon thewheels, and when allowed to drop back to a vertical position they ceaseto act. The two brakebeams attached to a truck are connected bylongitudinalrods or chains E E, attached by means of adjustablescrew-bolts or staples and nuts 0 to adapt them to be tightened up asthe brake-heads wear away. When chains are employed to connect thebrake-bars they are provided with an eye or made in two parts,

connected by a ring, 0', at the center. From this ring a chain, f,passes over a groove-pullcy or sheave, m, at or near the center of thetruck and thence up to a grooved pulley, n, securely fastened upon astout iron bar, N, which extends the whole length of the car, projectingslightly beyond either end, as shown in the drawing. All the chains f fare attached to the pulleys n in such a manner as to wind up or unwindsimultaneously by the turning of the bar N in its bearings, and they areso arranged up on the pulleys m m that when Wound up they draw both rodsE E inward at their middle, thus causing them to draw upon thebrake-beam and apply thebrakes to the wheels. The force whichis thusapplied laterally to the rods E is, of course, multiplied many timesbefore it is applied at the brake-heads, the whole apparatus operatingsomewhat on the principle of a toggle-joint lever. It will beparticularly observed, however, that although an immense force is thusapplied to the brakesin fact suflicient to stop the wheels and slidethem on the track unless care is taken to prevent ityet there is perhapsless danger of fracturing the brakebeams than in any other apparatus forthe purpose now in use, for the reason that the draft upon the beams isnot applied at their center, where they will break easily, but isdivided in two and applied close to the brake-head at each end, where itis almost impossible to fracture the beams by the application of anydraught, however, great. The details of construction may be varied to aconsiderable extent without departing from theproperlimits of theinvention. The sheaves or pulleys m may be supported in any propermanner, but preferably I construct frames 0, of cast or wrought-iron, tohold them, said frames being bolted to the bed-logs through flanges 0 0,which embrace one or more faces of the bed-logs. The two framesnecessary to a single truck may be cast in a single piece if preferred,the lateral fiangesbeing connected together so as to extend entirelyacross the under side of the bed-logs, and being bolted thereto in anysuitable manner. The part 0 may be grooved, in order to guide chains f fand prevent them-from working out of place. The bar N is made of ironone and a half inches in diameter, so as to stand any torsional strainupon it, and is supported in suitable hangers, staples, brackets,orbcarin gs attached to the bottom of the car. At its ends it'isenlarged and an open slot made in it to accommodate a slotted link, L,which is secured therein by a pin, as. shown in Fig. 1. This arrangementconnects the bars E attached to the several cars in such a manner thatwhenever one of said bars is turned in its bearings it communicates thesame motion to all the others throughout the train, and thereby appliesor releases all the brakes simultaneously. At the same time the slot inthe link allows the ends of the bars to approach or recede from eachother as the cars change position. So, too, the link itself, workingfreely in the slotted ends of the bars, forms a flexible, although not auniversal joint, which allows them to accommodate themselves to thejoltin g and swaying of thecars on a rough road. They should properly bearranged so that this joint will allow a lateral movement, and thevertical movements of the cars should be provided for by hanging theends of the bars in flexible or elastic bearings, which will allow theextrem ities of the rods to rise and fall afew inches. For the purposeof winding up or unwinding the chains that apply the brakes almost anykind of apparatus may be employed to rock the bar or shaft E in itsbearings. For example, a portion of the shaft may be squared 011' and alever fitted upon it at the; end of the car; or a ratchet-wheel may befitted upon the shaft and a ratchet-lever and pawl employed to turn andhold it or a cog-wheel may be fitted upon the shaft and a cog-wheel orworm-screw fitted upon the lower end of the brake-handle to turn it; orany other suitable means may be employed for the purpose. While thisapparatus operates upon the principle of a toggle-joint lever,'bein gsimply the lever reversed, so as to draw inward instead of pushingoutward with its arms, yet the change from an outward thrust to aninward draft obviates grave diificulties, which attend the use ofthetoggl'ejoint as heretofore employedfor'the purpose. The rods E E canbe nearly doubled in length and thereby their power proportionatelyincreased, while their diameter can be reduced to seven-eighths. of aninch. The apparatus is as simple as it is possible to-construct. The Ydraught. upon the chains and rods E is direct,

so that their whole tensile strength is utilized the power ispractically unlimited; the apparatus is adapted to all kinds of cars,trucks, platforms, and couplings, being capable of easy modification tosuit the Miller platform and other novel styles of construction; andlastly, its cost is only about one-half the cost of the brakes now ingeneral use, so that an immense saving in cost of original constructionwould be efl'ected, and this saving; wouldiberincreased from year toyear by at least the cost of the five brake-beams which, on an average,are annually broken or. injured: upon each can so as to have to berenewed.

Having thus fully described: my invention, what I claim as new, anddesiretosecureby Letters Patent, is

1. The combination; of the shaft N, arranged above the trucks,.with thepulleysm nand chains f f, arranged as described,tc bring the line ofdraught horizontal. with the brakehead, and the jointed rods orchains-Eettached by an adjustable connection to the brake-bars,substantially as described, for the purposes specified. 7

2. The combination v of the difierent' sections of the rocking-shaftN,adapted tobe usedfor the purpose described, with the removable slottedlinks or plates L, applied. in: the manner and for the purposesspecified;

GEO. H. MERRIAM.

Witnesses:

0. F. BRQWN, L. HILL.

